Budget cut proposals to be considered

All state agencies have submitted their proposed budget cuts and now it’s up to Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming Legislature to develop a plan about how they would go about reducing state agency budgets if revenues fall below projections next year.

Governor Mead asked agencies to propose cuts of up to eight percent to address falling gas prices. For every dollar below projected natural gas prices, the governor says the state loses about 110 million dollars. Right now, gas prices are 75 cents below projections. But Mead says when you look at the big picture…there is some good news.

“So we need natural gas prices to go up, but the good news is, as you see unemployment is still at about 5.3%. And nearly every category from our revenue forecasting group at the end of April, our actual revenues are ahead of revenue forecasts. So there is some good news. “

Mead says he will review proposals for budget cuts and make recommendations, and legislative committees will do the same. Those recommendations will be submitted to the legislature for further discussion in January.